Resonance Enhancement of the Faraday Effect in a Magnetoplasmonic Composite

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a theoretical and experimental study of the enhancement of the magneto-optical Faraday effect in a magnetoplasmonic nanocomposite, caused by localized plasmon resonance (LPR) in metal nanoparticles. The nanocomposite comprises a three-layer structure of self-assembled gold nanoparticles in a bismuth-substituted iron-garnet matrix. It is shown theoretically and experimentally that the enhancement of the magneto-optical Faraday effect is determined by the action of a magnetic field on the magnetoplasmonic composite as an effective medium as a whole. In this case, in the magnetoplasmonic nanocomposite, the Faraday effect is enhanced at the LPR wavelengths and is slightly weakened in the region of short wavelengths relative to the LPR. It is theoretically shown that the complex gyration index in the off-diagonal terms of the effective permittivity tensor for the magnetoplasmonic composite, in addition to rotation of the polarization plane, leads to the appearance of alternating ellipticity in the vicinity of the plasmon resonance, which is observed in the form of asymmetry of magneto-optical rotation.